All About Arthropods
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What is an arthropod?
You live with them almost everyday, even in the very cold winter months! They are everywhere and are the largest animal
phylum -- about 85% of all known animals in the world are part of this
class.
There are far more species of arthropods than there are
species in all the other phylums(phyla) combined.
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Mosquito
Photo Source: Corel Web Gallery |
They are spiders, insects, centipedes, mites, ticks,
lobsters, crabs, shrimp, crayfish, krill, barnacles, scorpions and many, many others. |
Grasshopper
Photo Source: Corel Web Gallery |
Can you see two segments?
Photo Source: Corel Web Gallery |
The easiest way to tell an arthropod from any other animal is to see if they have:
1) A segmented body.
A segmented body. This means that they will have a body made up
of more than one part. Spiders have two segments and flies have three segments.
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Can you see three segments?
Photo Source: Corel Web Gallery |
2) Many jointed legs or limbs.
Spiders have 8 legs, millipedes can
have... hundreds!
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centipede |
Crab
Photo Source: Corel Web Gallery
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3) An exoskeleton.
This is an external skeleton. Like armor, it protects the arthropods body. When arthropods are born the exoskeleton is soft but hardens quickly and it can be shed as the creature grows.
Arthropods are invertebrates; which means that they do not have a backbone.
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4) Cold blooded
Arthropods are cold blooded -- which means,
their body temperature depends on the temperature of the environment
surrounding them.
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Photo Source: Corel Web Gallery
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Photo Source: Corel Web Gallery
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Arthropods are some of the most interesting animals in
the world!
They fly, they creep, and they crawl.
They live on land, in ponds and in the ocean. From ants to bumblebees, crabs
to crayfish, spiders to
centipedes -- which are your favorites!?
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Scientific stuff: Arthropods include eleven animal
classes
- Subphylum Chelicerata
- Class Merostomata (horseshoe crabs, eurypterids)
- Class Pycnogonida (sea spiders)
- Class Arachnida (spiders, ticks, mites)
- Subphylum Crustacea
- Class Remipedia
- Class Cephalocarida
- Class Branchiopoda (fairy shrimp, water fleas)
- Class Maxillopoda (ostracods, copepods, barnacles)
- Class Malacostraca (isopods, amphipods, krill, crabs,
shrimp)
- Subphylum Uniramia
- Class Chilopoda (centipedes)
- Class Diplopoda (millipedes)
- Class Insecta (all of the insects including ants, bees,
beetles and butterflies)
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ANIMALS
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